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He
5 I (A)came to my garden, my (B)sister, my bride,
I gathered my (C)myrrh with my spice,
I ate my (D)honeycomb with my honey,
I (E)drank my wine with my milk.
Others
Eat, (F)friends, drink,
and be drunk with love!
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is (G)knocking.
“Open to me, my (H)sister, my (I)love,
my (J)dove, my (K)perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my (L)locks with the drops of the night.”
3 (M)I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had (N)bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with (O)liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he (P)spoke.
(Q)I sought him, but found him not;
(R)I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 (S)The watchmen found me
as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
they took away my veil,
those watchmen of the walls.
8 I (T)adjure you, O (U)daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
(V)I am sick with love.
Others
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O (W)most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus (X)adjure us?
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
She
10 My beloved is radiant and (Y)ruddy,
(Z)distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
(AA)his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His (AB)eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.[a]
13 His (AC)cheeks are like (AD)beds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are (AE)lilies,
dripping (AF)liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with (AG)jewels.
His body is polished ivory,[b]
bedecked with (AH)sapphires.[c]
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like (AI)Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
16 His (AJ)mouth[d] is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O (AK)daughters of Jerusalem.
Others
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O (AL)most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his (AM)garden
to (AN)the beds of spices,
to (AO)graze[e] in the gardens
and to gather (AP)lilies.
3 (AQ)I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as (AR)Tirzah, (AS)my love,
(AT)lovely as (AU)Jerusalem,
(AV)awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me—
(AW)Your hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 (AX)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
not one among them has lost its young.
7 (AY)Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.
8 There are (AZ)sixty (BA)queens and eighty (BB)concubines,
and (BC)virgins without number.
9 My (BD)dove, my (BE)perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to (BF)her who bore her.
(BG)The young women saw her and called her blessed;
(BH)the queens and (BI)concubines also, and they praised her.
10 (BJ)“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
(BK)awesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at (BL)the blossoms of the valley,
(BM)to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 (BN)Before I was aware, my desire set me
among (BO)the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.[f]
Others
He
7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O (BT)noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like (BU)jewels,
the work of (BV)a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with (BW)lilies.
3 (BX)Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your (BY)neck is like an ivory tower.
Your (BZ)eyes are pools in (CA)Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of (CB)Lebanon,
which looks toward (CC)Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like (CD)Carmel,
and your (CE)flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 (CF)How beautiful and (CG)pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights![i]
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like (CH)clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your (CI)mouth[j] like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.[k]
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 (CL)Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;[l]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
(CM)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether (CN)the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 (CO)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
(CP)new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Longing for Her Beloved
8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and (CQ)bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you (CR)spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 (CS)His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I (CT)adjure you, O (CU)daughters of Jerusalem,
(CV)that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 (CW)Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as (CX)a seal upon your arm,
for (CY)love is strong as death,
(CZ)jealousy[m] is fierce as the grave.[n]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very (DA)flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his (DB)house,
he[o] would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she (DC)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with (DD)boards of cedar.
She
10 (DE)I was a wall,
and my (DF)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds[p] peace.
11 Solomon had (DG)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he (DH)let out the vineyard to (DI)keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit (DJ)a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and (DK)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 (DL)O you who dwell in the gardens,
with (DM)companions listening for your voice;
(DN)let me hear it.
She
The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem
9 Now (A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about (B)the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, (C)of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready (D)since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But (E)I am sending[a] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, (F)as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians (G)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the (H)gift[b] you have promised, so that it may be ready (I)as a willing gift, (J)not as an exaction.[c]
The Cheerful Giver
6 The point is this: (K)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully[d] will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, (L)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for (M)God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And (N)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,
(O)“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
10 He who supplies (P)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and (Q)increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 (R)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which (S)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying (T)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, (U)they[f] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your (V)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 (W)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when (A)Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 (B)Have mercy on me,[a] O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your (C)abundant mercy
(D)blot out my transgressions.
2 (E)Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and (F)cleanse me from my sin!
3 (G)For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 (H)Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil (I)in your sight,
(J)so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, (K)I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in (L)the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me (M)with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
(N)wash me, and I shall be (O)whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
(P)let the bones (Q)that you have broken rejoice.
9 (R)Hide your face from my sins,
and (S)blot out all my iniquities.
10 (T)Create in me a (U)clean heart, O God,
and (V)renew a right[b] spirit within me.
11 (W)Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not (X)your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will (Y)return to you.
14 Deliver me from (Z)bloodguiltiness, O God,
O (AA)God of my salvation,
and (AB)my tongue will sing aloud of your (AC)righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 (AD)For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are (AE)a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
24 Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
25 lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.